- Saturday the 10th I dealt with some miscommunications from one of the people picking up stuff from my mom's house. (She claimed she hadn't realized the next day would be Super Bowl Sunday and wanted to back out on her commitment to pick up furniture, even though she literally mentioned the Super Bowl while we were making the plans in the first place.) She told me she would still come do the pickup we'd planned. I also found out my sister Lindsay was planning to come to Tampa to help me with Mom's house for part of the time that Patricia would be there, so that made me super happy. I spent the day getting the house ready and I accidentally knocked down my plushie shelves again. Whoops! I did some reading and walking and practicing ukulele.
- Sunday the 11th I went to my mom's and gave away a TV, a dresser, a changing table, a wicker drawer set and shelves, and some shelving in the garage, plus some stained glass pieces a lady had previously paid for. Spent pretty much the whole day dealing with it, and of course the lady who'd tried to flake on me ended up backing out again and officially flaking on me, so I still had items I had to arrange other takers for. Unreliable people suck. I took some photos of junk piles for my sister to get a good estimate from a junk pickup guy. And then I went home, cleaned up, and put up some cool lights with vines on them in my office. I posted a Tumblr post, sang a karaoke song, read my book, and tried to relax.
- Monday the 12th I had a slow morning. Made an appointment to do Mom's taxes. Fielded some appointment questions from my sister. Tried to make plans with someone who was interested in buying one of the last pieces of furniture I had (a cabinet). Spent the whole work day entering data into Quickbooks. Put away some stuff in the house and did some walking.
- Tuesday the 13th I did more data entry, went to meetings and arranged meetings, and did some research. Did some chores and wrangled the TV but my new cables didn't work. Scott and Ben came over and we watched some more Steven Universe while eating pizza. We got up to #20. Then I chatted to Jeaux on the phone about his THREE attempts to make a banana roll cake. Wow!
- Wednesday the 14th I went to a meeting, tracked some other meetings, repotted a plant, cleaned up around the house, and went grocery shopping with Jeaux after work. We ate at Taco Bus and watched Colbert. Patricia arrived at my house after midnight and we greeted her with banana roll cake (which was excellent--thanks Jeaux). My sister and I chatted a bit before we went to bed.
- Thursday the 15th we had banana roll cake for breakfast and snacks with hummus for lunch. We went to my mom's house to meet a realtor and deal with more furniture pickups. The person who'd wanted a blue chair came to see it and decided she didn't like it after all. Welp. So I made plans with the next person who was interested. We liked the realtor and took some notes. We also took some stuff I'd been saving back to my place and threw it in the garage. At home we had soup and I worked some more and later we went back to the house to finalize our junk piles, which meant taking down window dressings and blinds and stuff. We aren't very handy and we are short, but we got it done. Sadly it was too late to go to the restaurant we'd planned to go to (SoFresh), but Five Guys was open. We cleaned up and went to bed.
- Friday the 16th I stayed behind to work while Patricia went to Mom's. She met with an A/C guy and also met a fella who bought the blue chair (and took a bunch of other stuff that would have been donations). Exciting! But the person who'd been saying they wanted the cabinet flaked so yet again I didn't have a buyer. After my marketing meeting my sister picked me up and I helped supervise the junk pickup. The family business that handled it was lovely. They had to make two trips though, which was unexpected. We did finally get our SoFresh food and I worked on some reports in the afternoon and evening. My sister went back to finish the junk pickup. When she got home she dealt with some PTA stuff and I finished my comic. We even got a walk in. Nice day but we are tired.
- Saturday the 17th we did taxes with Paul the tax man for Mom, and then we met another realtor and got some more plans taken care of at the house. We ended up getting some Whole Foods burritos, selling outdoor furniture to a guy, and taking another load of stuff back to my place. Lindsay arrived and we got some sushi to share. Sisters got to hang out and talk and we went through memory boxes full of things our mother kept. We blew up an air mattress for me to sleep on since I was giving my sister my bed, but it deflated after an hour so I ended up sleeping on my yoga mat. Haha.
- Sunday the 18th we went through more box stuff, and met our dad and Connie for lunch at Best NY Pizza (super good; I split a margherita pizza with Patricia). We checked with Goodwill about their dropoff hours (I had been afraid they wouldn't be open on Presidents' Day, but they were going to be!), then bought some stuff at Home Depot (new mailbox, new light plates, a lockbox). I got a new buyer interested in the cabinet, which was the LAST piece of furniture, so I made plans with him. We picked up some more personal stuff, put the plates on, and made breakfast for dinner (tater tots, scrambled eggs with mushrooms, and pancakes). My sisters sorted through my mom's jewelry while I fell asleep for a while on the floor. We picked some personal stuff and put the rest in the donation bag. Patricia got a different mattress ready for me because she is cool.
- Monday the 19th I went back to work. Patricia had to meet the plumber at Mom's super early before I got up, so she headed out (without coffee!). She sold the cabinet to the guy who wanted to buy it (all the stuff is gone! yay! I sold ALL my mom's furniture!), and when Lindsay got over to the house (bringing coffee and bagels), the two of them took all the donations to Goodwill. Finally everything's out. (Whew!) I was working so I didn't help. Lindsay came back first with a carload of stuff for my garage. Then later Patricia followed, bringing us ice cream. (YAY!) We handled some logistics with their packing and what to take with them, and we ate some good old ranch dip with snacks. Then we all went to bed.
- Tuesday the 20th, Lindsay got up early to go to the airport so we saw her off. Patricia went to meet the inspector and I worked and went to meetings. I did some laundry and saw Patricia off in the afternoon when she came back with the report. After work my friends came over for cartoons again, so I got to watch up to the mid-season finale with Ben and Scott. We ate SoFresh food and hung out. Then after they left I had some relaxing time and went to bed early.
- Wednesday the 21st, I spent the day at work sending out invitations, doing data entry, and going to meetings. Jeaux came over super early and hung out while I finished work. We went to Mandola's and shopped, and then he helped me bring the Victrola into the living room (finally!). We also watched Colbert and took a walk. I did my taxes.
- Thursday the 22nd, I had a lot of meetings and fielded questions and research. Did some home cleanup and wrote Negative One. Went to my mom's house with Ben and he pulled up all the carpets and took out some of the tile in my mom's room. Then we ate some Mandola's food and hung out at my place until game night, where Ben got to participate with my friends. We did that for two hours and then I signed a realtor contract and went to sleep.
- Friday the 23rd, I ate too much candy and did timesheets and reports at work. I drew my comic and was very sleepy for some reason. I did some Polo recording and walking, and I booked a carpet cleaning for my mom's house.
Interviews/Articles/Mentions:
- Hemingway's Books and Records posted an article called "20 Best Books About Sexuality" and my book made the list.
New Reviews:
- Emerson gave The Invisible Orientation a three-star review on Goodreads.
- Ezra Letson gave The Invisible Orientation a four-star review on Goodreads.
- Daniel gave The Invisible Orientation a two-star review on Goodreads.
- Weight stuff: I haven't done a lot of consistent attention to this because I don't get on the scale as consistently when it's cold and I've had houseguests so my choices about meals are different, but I'm not unsatisfied with what I have seen here. For the two weeks: High weight: 122.9. Low weight: 120.4.
- Nutrition stuff: So the days I didn't get a serving of fruits or veggies at every meal were still on days when I had more than one serving of fruits and veggies at a different meal, as it turns out. I am still super happy with the balance and am still having at least one green veggie every day (really a huge change from last year). Most days have been nearly exactly balanced between protein, fat, and carbohydrates, but the days when it's out of whack are (predictably) higher fat days, like if I got a pizza with my friends or ate restaurant food. I think my choices were relatively reasonable and I'm not feeling hungry at all. The one thing I would like to cut down on is the candy, though.
- Activity stuff: I met my walking goal every day both weeks. For the 10th through the 16th, my low day was Friday at 10,072 steps, and my high day was Wednesday at 14,906 steps. For the 17th through the 23rd, my low day was Monday at 10,065 steps, and my high day was Sunday at 11,295 steps.
Books Read:
- Finished Reading: Nothing this week.
- Currently Reading: The Last Graduate by Naomi Novik. I'm on page 149.
I didn't do one the week my sisters were here, but last week's karaoke song is "Ordinary World" by Duran Duran.
Stuff drawn:
Videos Made:
New photos:
There's a whole "Sisterfest" album if you want to see everything. But here are some highlights from the last two weeks:
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| A cardinal at the bird feeder |
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| A squirrel enjoying the bird feeder |
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| Patricia arrives! |
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| Sampling banana roll made by Jeaux |
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| Jeaux with his creation |
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| Patricia's photo of her piece of cake |
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| Patricia forgot to bring socks so she wore a "pair" of mine (I always wear mismatched socks) |
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| Getting Five Guys with Patricia after a day of working at Mom's |
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| Patricia getting handy with the drill at Mom's |
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| P trying homemade Thin Mints after another busy day |
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| Thin Mint break! |
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| Lindsay arrived! It's the sushi sisters. |
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| It bothered Lindsay that our furniture cash wasn't faced so she sorted it for me. |
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| A grackle came to my feeder! I haven't had that before. |
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| At lunch with Dad and Connie, Patricia and I split a margherita pizza |
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| Lindsay reads old date books |
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| Patricia looks through Mom Memories |
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| Lindsay making breakfast for dinner |
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| Patricia making pancake batter |
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| Patricia "ooooo"-ing over a pancake |
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| Patricia and Lindsay taking a sandwich break after more hard work at Mom's |
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| Lindsay sniffing my candles |
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| Ice cream for the sisters! |
Social Media Counts:
YouTube subscribers: 5,446 for swankivy (4 new), 676 for JulieSondra (1 new), 17 for v & V Vids (no change), 198 for Not-So-Giant Women (no change), 70 for Tides of Time Band (no change). Twitter followers: 845 for swankivy (1 new), 3,853 for JulieSondra (lost 5). Facebook: 299 friends for swankivy (no change), 645 likes for JulieSondra (lost 2), 82 followers for Negative One (no change), 248 likes for So You Write (no change), 98 followers for Not-So-Giant-Women (no change). Tumblr followers: 2,442 (lost 3). Instagram followers: 274 (10 new).
